Reading Matt’s blog is like reading emails from a really good friend, albeit a friend you are highly envious of. Matt has dined at hawker stands in Singapore and clipped grapes at Veuve Cliquot’s vineyards. But he doesn’t seem to let it go to his head. For him, it’s about experiencing all that food has to offer, from the immediate satisfaction that comes from cooking and eating, to the friendships forged by the breaking of bread.

My parents in the kitchen cookin’ up a storm; they were from the Julia Child era where they watched her show & tried to re-create. Memories of Crepes Suzette and chicken liver pate are still fresh in my mind. Also, they took us out every Friday night to try a new “cuisine”: Korean, Thai, Japanese, Turkish, etc….that was huge for me!

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Whether you call it doufu, bean curd or tofu, it’s what Anna Anderson is making.

Anderson runs Acadiana Soy Products, making tofu and tofu-based foods. Her foodstuffs can be found throughout the HRM and in various stores throughout the province. But most people will recognise her products from seeing them at local farmer’s markets in the area. Passable sat down with Anna for one of our Passable Interviews to talk about her love of all things soy.

For Tara MacDonald and Zane Kelsall, Two If By Sea is not just café, it’s an expression of what they do, and how they do it. Started in November of 2009, Two If By Sea has become one of the most respected and revered cafés in the HRM, with a highly loyal and devotional following. Drop in at any time, on any day, and you’ll be hard pressed to find a place to sit, but soon enough, someone will be gracious enough to move on, because they want you to experience what they just did.

And what they experienced is perfectly pulled espresso-based drinks and superb coffee, alongside wonderful croissants. Beside those two things, there is really little else on the menu at this little corner joint. And that’s the point – to do the simplest things, and to do them well. Zane Kelsall is an award winning barista (both by popular demand and critical acclaim) and Tara MacDonald’s croissants are legendary among Halifoodie cognoscenti. One year later, the popular spot is still busy, often with Zane manning the espresso machine and Tara pounding butter into batter for croissants.

The cafe is also proud of its Dartmouth pedigree. You’ll find little (and free!) ” I (heart) Dartmouth” buttons by the cash, and the staff (and even the patrons) are often seen wearing t-shirts emblazoned with the same logo on their chests. It’s been one of their big selling points, and is often discussed in interviews.

They are the brains and the muscle behind Fox Hill Farm and Cheese House. Their cheese and milk products have been served to the Queen, won awards, and are gobbled up by Nova Scotians on a daily basis. Jeanita found a few moments to sit down and answer a few questions for a Passable Interview.

How did Fox Hill Cheese come about?

Fox Hill Cheese House came about in 2002 when our son decided he wanted to farm. It forced us to look very seriously at our financial picture; our cash flow wasn’t great because of the various infrastructure changes we had made to the farm over the years. My husband is the entrepreneur and always wanted to add value to our milk to make cheese, yogurt and ice cream. Late on a Sunday evening in 2002, an elderly lady knocked on our door and asked if we were the people that wanted to make cheese. She knew of a cheese maker going out of business and connected us. This was the beginning of our journey into cheese making. In 2006 we added natural yogurt to our product base and then in 2007 gelato ice cream. All products are made from Foxhill milk.(More …)

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Two years ago, Natalie Smith and her husband Paul bought 50 acres of land on Roberts Island, just outside of Yarmouth. They had lived in Ontario and Michigan, but wanted something different. The former tech geek who had worked for Motorola and AT&T found herself pulling weeds, growing veggies the local population had never seen, and starting the first CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) in Yarmouth County, along with several other farmers, called The Yarmouth Food Basket Guild. The CSA is now supplying locally produced food baskets for customers in the area, 17 at last count, but for Smith, this is only the beginning.

But I did, and she and I got to talking. A lot. Originally from Montreal, Ruth moved to Halifax from Toronto with her better half, David, to be closer to her daughter and grandchildren who live here. I had the chance to interview Ruth for CBC’s Information Morning in my Assis Toi series and felt like I found someone who gets what it means to eat : that food is a connection between people, between families, between generations.

Those three things play a role in her being a foodie. In our last post, we spoke with Lezlie about the beginnings of her relationship with food, and her family’s relationship with food. Here, Lezlie talks about how her work as a journalist fed into her world as a foodie.

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In 2007, I moved to Creighton Street, in Halifax’s north end. I had rented a large moving van and needed a place to park. My new neighbour came out of her house and asked if we needed her parking spot. It was Lezlie.

Lezlie writes for The Coast and has a weekly column in The Chronicle Herald. I knew her by her work, but I got to know her through food. More often than not, I would find myself knocking on her door, asking to borrow a couple eggs or some icing sugar for something or other that I was making. Grateful, I would soon return with whatever I had made – lemon curd, stews or even a birthday cake, made for her.

But it wasn’t just the fact that she was a nice nieghbour with good taste in food that made me like her. It was her politics about food that made me respect her. Lezlie gets up early on saturday mornings, so that she can go down to the market and buy meat, cheese, dairy products – more on that later – bread, you name it. If she can buy it locally, she does.

I’ve also always enjoyed my conversations with Lezlie about food. So I called her up and asked her if I could interview her for Passable. I met up with her as she was making cheese sandwiches for her kids. In her case, gouda cheese from That Dutchman’s cheese and bread from Julien’s.